Too Late
by DragonFire44
Summary: Tobi takes off from the hideout in search of his partner. When he finds him he wonders what happened and regrets not doing something sooner.


Disclaimer – I do not own Shippuden

Warning – Character death… sadly.

Too Late…

It hurt…

Every part of him screamed in pain… it hurt to breathe, it hurt to move.

He couldn't recall the last time he'd been in this much pain… if ever.

He leaned heavily against a tree trunk, his breathing uneven. Every time he swallowed the pain seemed to increase. With each passing second, he felt his throat constrict making it harder to draw in air.

Deidara sighed inwardly, vaguely wishing he'd stayed in bed today. He had stormed off from the Akatsuki hideout after an argument from Hidan. While it was common for them to argue, there were times it really grated on him, everyone was constantly demeaning him and picking on him and it infuriated him. The Zealot just loved to piss him off the most and because he'd been in such a furious mood he'd failed to realize the enemy nin.

There had only been one… just one ANBU. And while one would usually never be a problem for him as he was an S ranked nin and more than capable to handle an ANBU there had been a problem. A big unfortunate problem, he didn't have any of his clay with him.

He'd left it in his room and due to the fight with Hidan had left without it. He hadn't even been aware that he didn't have his gray bag of clay with him until the enemy nin had struck.

While he wasn't horrible in taijutsu, it wasn't his strong point and he had been caught off guard. He'd managed to get away but suffered severe injuries. He'd moved as fast as he could hoping to get back to the hideout but found his body sluggish and within moments ended up stumbling and hitting a tree.

Blood flowed from the several of his wounds; he'd been stabbed by several kuni which had clearly done sufficient damage.

His legs felt like jelly, his body heavy; sweat ran down his face as he tried to even his harsh breathing with little success. When he felt partially ready to move again he'd only barely moved one leg before he collapsed.

Warily he closed his sky blue eyes, it didn't look like he'd make it back at this rate… he wasn't even sure he was going in the right direction. He'd gotten turned around when he'd been attacked.

Deidara pressed himself a bit more into the trunk of the tree; his long blond hair stained with blood covered half his face, and fell over his blue fishnet shirt.

"…pai?"

Deidara blinked his eyes open with difficulty as they felt _so _heavy… He lifted his head slightly; he thought he'd heard a voice. He listened as well as he could in his current state, after a few moments of straining his hearing and not hearing a _thing_ he lowered his head, dismissing it as his imagination.

"Senpai!"

His head snapped up at the familiar word and voice. Only one person called him that.

Sure enough not a moment later an orange masked nin with short spiky black hair appeared in his blurry vision. Stunned surprise shot through him, what was _Tobi_ doing here? How had the dumbass even _found_ him?

Tobi knelt besides the bloodied blond quickly surveying the visible wounds and noting the teen had lost a lot of blood. His face was ashen and pale; it was quite a surprise that he was still conscious.

"Senpai…" Tobi uttered softly as he reached out with a slightly trembling gloved hand towards the badly injured rock nin. Gently he brushed bloodied blond hair away from Deidara's face noting the hazy gaze.

Anger welled up, as he clenched his other hand tightly, furiously wanting to kill the person responsible but asked softly, "What happened Senpai?" The blond was breathing labouredly and as much as he wanted to know, it didn't look like the rock nin had the strength to speak.

Gently as he possibly could he pulled the dying teen into his arms and held him.

Deidara pressed his face into his partner's chest as Tobi ran a gloved hand through his dirty long blond hair.

"Senpai…" Tobi whispered brokenly.

It was then that Deidara knew that he was going to die. He swallowed as much as he possibly could feeling mildly scared and afraid. He had always envisioned his death being in a huge, brilliant spectacular explosion. Something that would be remembered by all those who had witnessed it… To go out in a bang like his art, to be fleeting _that_ was how he wanted to die!

Not… not like this, lying in the middle of a forest bleeding to death. While he preferred to make his exit during a fight since that at this moment wasn't possible if he had his clay he would have used his chest mouth and detonated. But he _didn't_ have his clay…. Though he supposed even if he did he probably wouldn't have been able to use his chakra.

Dying like _this_… it _wasn't _his way!

He bit his lip to stifle the small cry of agony at not being able die by an explosion. A wonderful, mesmerizing explosion…

Weakly he raised his arms and grasped the back of Tobi's Akatsuki cloak, choking out "T-t..bi?"

The hand in his hair briefly stilled before continuing to run smoothly through his hair.

"Yes Senpai?"

"I…" He cut off, struggling to work his mouth, finding it increasingly difficult to speak but willed himself to form the words, "I d-don't… wan-t to… d-die…" He swallowed noisily as he fought down the tightness in his throat, "N-not li…ke t-this un…"

Tobi's arms tightened slightly around the thin frame but had nothing to say, no comfort he could provide. If he had been faster, looked sooner he could have saved his blond. Now… it was too late.

He removed his hand from the long blond hair and lifted his mask up just enough to reveal his mouth. Grasping the artists chin he gently lifted the other's head and pressed his mouth to the blonds.

Deidara lightly jolted in shock and surprise as Tobi ran his tongue over the blonds bottom lip before coaxing the teen's mouth open enough to slip his warm, moist tongue inside. He explored the sculptor's mouth, savoring the taste as he'd never get to taste him again.

The kiss was short but felt like it had lasted a life time. Releasing the other's mouth and re-tangling his gloved hand in the teen's hair, Tobi pressed his face into his partner's hair inhaling the lingering scent of lavender.

Silently wishing he'd acted sooner, if he had he wouldn't be losing Deidara right now. Deep in the recesses of his mind Tobi regretted with his entire being not taking action.

"T-tobi… un?" Deidara gasped out before hissing in pain. He'd never been kissed before… Deidara gripped the back of the other's cloak a little tighter, wanting; _needing_ to know why Tobi had _kissed _him.

"I love you Deidara. And I always will." Tobi stated with adamant conviction, answering the blonds silent question.

Despite his muddled brain Deidara noticed Tobi's voice had deepened, sounding more like a real villain. However his brain was too foggy and heavy to dwell too much on it.

_Love… Him?_

His eyes fell shut, he struggled to suck in oxygen and when his mind realized that he couldn't, panic seized him.

Tobi felt Deidara tense, could feel his struggling for air and knew it was time.

He held the blond tightly as he murmured softly, "I'm here Senpai. I won't leave you alone." He closed his eye seeing as he couldn't see any ways due to the position of his mask, No… he wouldn't let the blond die alone.

Deidara felt a small brief thrill of relief at the familiar voice despite it sounding so _very _distant, then his arms dropped and with one last rise of his chest the blond was gone.


End file.
